When deciding where to rent a home, many factors must be considered, including cost and quality of life. With telecommuting becoming an option for more and more workers today, the question arises as to how a renter should decide where to live.
A recent study by RentCafe crunched the numbers and looked at U.S. cities with at least 10,000 rental units and 50,000 residents – 149 in total – and ranked them based on 20 metrics in three weighted categories: cost of living and housing (50 percent), local economy (30 percent) and quality of life (20 percent). Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan were treated as individual markets in the study.
Charleston, South Carolina, was named the best U.S. city for renters for the second year in a row. The city earned top 10 ratings for its economy and low cost of living, and received praise for its “spacious housing, high-quality schools and abundant green spaces,” according to the study. Atlanta came in second, thanks in part to its plentiful job opportunities and steady income growth for renters. Scottsdale, Arizona, rounded out the top five with top marks in the economy and quality of life categories, despite having a cost of living 13.4 percent above the national average.
Newark came in last on the list, ranking in the bottom 10 in all three categories. The city's cost of living was 16 percent higher than the national average, and its smallest average apartment size was tied with Seattle at 701 square feet. Detroit, Sunnyvale, Calif., the borough of Manhattan and Anaheim, Calif., finished in the bottom five. Manhattan had the highest average cost of living in the study, 127 percent above the national average.
Data comes from the U.S. Census Bureau, other government agencies, the Cost of Living Index, other sources, and RentCafe's sister company, Yardi Matrix.
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